Chapter 193 (1/2)
“Thanks to you, Su-hyeun, my dream of traveling around the world will come true.”
“You haven’t been to that many places yet.”
“Meh. If we move around in a private plane like this, a journey around the world won’t take too long. Have you ever read the book, Around the World in 80 Days?”
“That book came out a long, long time ago.”
Su-hyeun and Hak-joon were sitting on a bench outside of the airport in Paris. The airport, which would normally be packed with crowds of travelers, wasn’t busy at all because of the recent incidents.
“People don’t look well,” Hak-joon said.
“The people here are probably aware of recent events, so they must be scared.”
People came to Paris with the anxiety of not knowing when, where, and who would attack them. The only people coming now were probably on essential business, but they all looked like they wanted to get out of Paris as soon as possible.
“But, Su-hyeun, do you really think that happened because of the dungeon?”
“I’ve got a feeling, you know? And monsters aren’t the only things that can come out of dungeons.”
“What else can come out then?” Hak-joon asked.
“Well. Actually, once in Osaka, Japan, poisonous smoke came out instead of monsters. It almost killed a lot of people, but, fortunately, it was stopped before there was a major loss of life, because it was just an orange dungeon.”
“You know all kinds of stuff.”
While they were talking, the plane that they had been waiting for arrived. After a bit more waiting—
“There he comes.”
—the man they waited for walked out.
“Su-hyeun—!”
The red-haired man ran from afar, shouting in a loud voice. It was Thomas. Thomas dashed forward, opening his arms wide as if he was in a hurry. Since he was good at running, he reached them very quickly.
Whoosh—
Su-hyeun grabbed Thomas nape, who jumped high to hug Su-hyeun. Thomas laughed. He seemed very happy to see Su-hyeun after a long time.
“Don’t run like that. If you fall, you’ll get hurt,” Su-hyeun said.
“Okay!” Thomas replied, nodding his head.
He still spoke like a child, but his Korean was remarkably improved. Even Su-hyeun was a little surprised.
“His language got better quick, and he’s adjusting to society well,” Hak-joon said. “He just didn’t have someone to teach him so far. He’s a real quick learner.”
“Is that so? That’s good.”
“He also works the most out of all of us. I’m sure Thomas is as famous as you now.”
“Ahem.” At Hak-joon’s praise, Thomas expressed his triumphant mood with an exaggerated gesture.
After Thomas joined, the three of them left the airport by car.
While they walked away, Hak-joon asked Su-hyeun, “When can we get police support?”
“They’re probably evacuating people now. I don’t feel safe since they’re just civilians, too. But, oh well, we have no choice.”
“What if we use awakeners? I’m sure there are many awakeners in the French Authority.”
“I thought about that, too. But they might cause more trouble since they have powers. So, I asked the Authority to arrange awakeners, but keep them at a distance, just in case.”
Vroom—
Su-hyeun started the car. They headed for the Rue des Champs-Élysée, the center of Paris. The street was quiet, and there was no traffic. People had been leaving Paris since the incidents first started. The city was almost empty.
Screech—
Su-hyeun parked the car on one side of the street. The few people who were still left in Paris were moving under the order of the police.
“Please empty the city as soon as possible.”
Su-hyeun had asked both the chief of the National Police Agency and the Awakeners Authority of France. His first request was to evacuate people from Paris. The incidents were getting worse. People had already been talking about emptying the city before. And Su-hyeun requested they do that, so the chief of two major organizations didn’t hesitate to evacuate people.
“And how many awakeners belong to the Authority?” Su-hyeun had asked.
“There are about 200 people who can be mobilized right now, regardless of their levels.”
“If there are awakeners who have mind control skills, we need them. It isn’t a common skill, but, with about 200 people, I assume we’ll get at least ten people. Also, we need people who have resistance to magic or mind control skills.”
“What about other awakeners?”
“I’d rather you use normal police manpower than awakeners. If awakeners go crazy, it’ll only cause more trouble.”
Su-hyeun opened the door and got out of the car. He looked around the street. Some stores were stained with blood. The windows were broken and the cars on the road were smashed.
“Wow. It’s pretty bad,” Hak-joon exclaimed.
“It shows what happens when everyone goes insane.”
Ring, ring, ring—
Su-hyeun’s phone started to ring. It was a call from Lee Ju-ho.
“Hello?”
-Hey, Su-hyeun. I think you were right.
Lee Ju-ho spoke in an urgent voice. Su-hyeun could hear the keyboard sound. It seemed like Lee Ju-ho was busily typing away.
“What happened?”
-I just sent you an e-mail. Look at it while we talk.
“Okay.”
Su-hyeun turned on the speakerphone mode and opened his inbox. The mail that Lee Ju-ho had sent was there.
“What are you doing?”
Hak-joon and Thomas leaned closer to Su-hyeun with curious faces. Su-hyeun quickly read through the e-mail.
-It happened a few hours ago. A group orgy occurred on a beach in Florida, United States. A large scale theft occurred in Brazil. And—
Lee Ju-ho read out the list of incidents that attached to the e-mail.
“Lust, greed, envy, gluttony,” Su-hyeun muttered.
-Everything matches with what you said. Well. Except for pride.
Kee hee, hee hee hee—
A strange laugh came from somewhere. Su-hyeun, Hak-joon, and Thomas, who were listening to Lee Ju-ho through speakerphone, looked around.
“Ju-ho, let’s hang up for now. I will call you later.”
-What’s wrong?
“I’ll call you soon.”
Su-hyeun quickly turned off his phone and put it in his pocket. Hak-joon raised his magic power.
He asked in nervous voice, “Is this it?”
“Yes,” Su-hyeun answered calmly.
“Oh, I feel like I’m burning with rage. It’s like…I have to break something.”